“While he lives. Then the position of head of household moves down to Laelius Scaurus.”

“Whom even his loving aunt may regard as a rather unworldly fellow to be put in control… But if he upsets his father too much, Numentinus could disinherit him.”

“You seem very excited by this, Falco.”

I gave Constantia my best grin. “Well, it might explain many things. In their huge mansion stuffed full of slaves on the Aventine, the Laelii consider themselves to be living in genteel poverty.”

Constantia, a girl with a nature that I could take to, raised her eyebrows. “Poor them!” she said scathingly.

“I am wondering now,” I pondered, “whether somebody in her family has hidden Gaia away deliberately, to ensure she should not be selected in the lottery and made financially independent.”

“Drastic.”

“Money makes people lose their sense of reality.”

“Other things can do that.”

“Like what?” I asked-and this time when I gave her a grin, it was rather nicely returned.

“Love,” suggested Constantia. “Or what passes for it in bed.”

Who knows what line of questioning might have developed next? Instead, just at that moment we heard steps tramping the corridor outside.

I leaped up and jumped over to the window on light feet. Constantia laid a finger on her lips. The footsteps went by, apparently only one person; Constantia, who seemed unfazed, may have recognized the heavy tread of one of her fellow inmates. Vestals tend to be solid women; to compensate for their lonely lives, they must be well fed.

The experience reminded me I should not linger. On her feet too, Constantia herself now whispered conspiratorially. “I have enjoyed talking to you, but you ought to go. There is always a chance one of the others will come along for a hot toddy, or to borrow a novel and share a session of girl talk.”

“Very nice! Thanks for your help, anyway. I’ll be off down my ladder.”

She was scornful. “Don’t be ridiculous. Nasty splintery things-” However did she know that? “Men should not go clambering around at high level after drinking wine. Come with me, and I can let you out properly through the gate.”

When she opened her door onto the corridor, there was nobody about, and it did seem sensible to walk softly in the shadows rather than climbing about like a thief. Rolling on the balls of my feet for quietness, I let myself be led through dimly lit corridors to ground level. There I went back to the ladder that was still at Constantia’s window, and tidied it away on its side under the colonnade as if the workmen had just lazily left it there.

We crept down the dark cloister towards the exit gate. Suddenly there was a noise, and a door opened. I never saw who came out. Constantia grabbed my hand. Then, with great presence of mind, she dragged me to a litter that was standing unattended in the vestibule; we both piled inside, pulling the curtains down.

I do realize that crude people will now be speculating wildly about what a keen Roman male might get up to while squashed very tightly in a litter with a Vestal Virgin. Just calm down. She had a religious calling; I was faithfully devoted to my girlfriend; and anyway, the need for silence overrode everything else.

XLV

NO; HONEST, PRAETOR. I never laid a finger on the girl.

XLVI

MIND YOU, I hope nobody ever asks me what that rude madam did to me!

XLVII

JUPITER. SHE WAS a disgrace.

XLVIII

STIFLING MY SHOCK and readjusting my dignity, I looked out to check if the coast was clear.

I scrambled free, then turned back to examine the litter we had been hiding in. It was a dull black color, with silver handholds on the poles and long charcoal-gray curtains. I had seen it before, when I first approached the house of the Laelii.

“I know the Vestals possess the right to ride in a carriage, but is this yours too, for when you travel incognito to buy knickknacks and fashionwear?”

“No, it belongs to a visitor.”

“Now who would that be?”

“An ex-Vestal. Some stay here on retirement, well cared for in the tranquillity of the home they know. Others who decide to leave are always welcome back.”

Her grapple with me had left her unruffled, but she knew we were in danger here. She was trying to move me on. I stood my ground. “Your visitor is a complete stranger to tranquillity! I know she left the Laelius house earlier today. This is Terentia Paulla, returning to the sisterhood?”

“The Chief Virgin is comforting her; she is desolate about the disappearance of little Gaia.”

“Is that so? I need to speak to her.”

“Do not intrude, Falco.”

“Don’t balk me! Will I have to climb in through her window too?”

“No. You are going to walk out of the gate now.”

I knew I had pushed it far enough tonight. I let Constantia lead me to the door in the wall that led to the Temple of Vesta enclosure. My hair-raising adventure was reaching its end, quite successfully. Or so I thought, until my companion unlocked the gate for me.

Outside, near the temple, a group of lictors and other heavy types were clustered around a young man; I could see it was Aelianus. They must have only just apprehended him. He was responding with spirit: “ Officers!” he cried in his reassuringly patrician tones. “I am so glad I ran into you. I just noticed that there is a ladder leaning up against the Vestals’ House. It may have something to do with a roughlooking fellow I just saw running off. He went that way…” He gestured towards the Regia.

“Show us!” The watch guards were not completely convinced. More practical than I had hoped, they had the sense to keep him with them while they went to investigate. Still, he was a senator’s son and had every right to stroll around Rome at night looking for a rumpus he could join in.

Constantia had pulled the door closed hastily before we were seen by anyone. Again, she used that word a Virgin should not know. Pulling a face, she gestured for me to follow her, whispering that she would show me the Via Nova exit.

“Is it locked?”

“I hope not.”

“Dear gods!” I was deeply apprehensive. I could cope with the mere fact of gliding about a residence that was strictly closed to men. I did not want to find myself in another dark corner where Constantia might jump me.

Somebody else was coming. Even Constantia was losing her nerve. I asked her for directions, then instructed her to hasten back to the security of her own suite. “If I get arrested, you never saw me, and you know nothing about me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Falco!” She was incorrigible.

“That’s right. Be sensible.”

I had some trouble with the directions. Nobody is perfect. Constantia had seemed a thoroughly delightful character, no doubt absolutely packed with talent. She could probably have driven a chariot around and around the Circus, but as a navigator she was useless; she could not distinguish between left and right. Still, eventually I found the door she had described. Unfortunately, it was locked.

This was a door in the interior of the residential block, so there was no climbing out. Increasingly apprehensive now, I worked my way once more to the central garden area. Here too, the gate had now been secured by somebody. Keeping deep in the shadows, I sidled back for my ladder. All went well. I was extremely tired, but I took care how I lifted and carried it. More or less in silence, I made it back to where I first climbed over and set the ladder gingerly against the wall. Up I went, once again within sight of freedom.